28 Apr 2007

Narayan narayan

Line up Narayanamurthy.

Yes the same guy who has go words like corporate governance, IT sector and social responsibility onto the front pages. A few days ago he created another controversy which did not involve Deve Gowda or Bangalore. Seriously i he was in the film industry we would be writing that he is doing this to get attention.

On a visit to the Infosys INTERNATIONAL campus (emphasis on international) the President APJ kalam was treated to an instrumental version of our national anthem. Narayanamurthy explained that there were foreigners working on campus since this is an INTERNATIONAL company and playing

His words :We had arranged for five people to sing the anthem. But then we cancelled it as we have foreigners onboard here. They should not be embarrassed while we sing the anthem.

Take a pause. What does he mean? Do INTERNATIONAL companies in Japan and the United States nor play the National Anthem in their office campus on special occasions? Does that make them less INTERNATIONAL?

I am not in favour of playing the Anthem to prove one's patriotism. But if you call the President then you have to play it. Twice infact. So what's the big deal about it? But to be fair he has since then apologised.

However I want to take up this issue of a Infosys being an INTERNATIONAL company. Lets be fair. Unlike Toyota or Adobe, Infosys does not produced any world class products. It just makes money providing cheap labour. There are Indian companies like Sundaram Fasteners (first Indian company to get the Deming award) and Shanta Biotechnics (pioneered a Hepatitis B vaccine for India) which have done better work and yet are not well known.

As for the National Anthem my questions is : will Mr. Narayanamurthy allow it to be played if he is elected president?




4 comments:

Gautam Chintamani said...

Mr. M should take a minute or two and consider a few home truths.

In addition to his intention of not embarrassing the foreigners present, he also said that he thought that the foreigners would feel out of place if any other version except the instrumental version of the national anthem was to be played!

What?

Mr. Murthy, a foreigner, any foreigner in India would feel out of place. He/ she can't feel more out of place. Just for your information sir, we’ve got a lot of things other than a vocal version of our National Anthem, to embarrass the shit out of anyone!

Also I think given Mr. Murthy’s overt fascination for all things American, considering that they buy most of the over priced services offered by Infosys, makes him say such stupid things. Ask any foreigner if they would give such half-assed explanation! Would a gora refuse to show proper sentiments to his/ her National Anthem or their President to make Mr. Murthy feel at home in Prague or Baden Baden!? I don’t think so and not because the foreigner would not be ‘considerate’ enough towards Mr. Murthy’s, it’s because Mr. Murthy will go to any lengths to make sure his hosts don’t suspect that he feels out of place while visiting them. God he might even mug up the Czechoslovakian National anthem before visiting the place!

In Bombay all cinema halls play the National Anthem before the start of any program. I like that. Sometimes it's nice to force people to take stock of certain things that most of us end up taking for granted, say the spirit of nationality. And before you start accusing me of being somewhat non-liberal baying let me tell you that I have an army background and that is perhaps responsible for this but then I don’t have an issue with that!

Such things always come with a price tag; people munch on popcorn while the Anthem plays. Why can’t people maintain some decorum for a minute? Well that’s because no one likes to be forced to display anything least of all his or her patriotism. Just like Mr. Infosys thinks he can insult the President.

dreamrunner said...

Agree with your thoughts, Sudesh. Just an old colonial hangover of bending over backwards to make ther important others feel more important. looks like the new, brash india is not free of that sydronme.
hope you are well.
cheers,
robin

Pankaj said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pankaj said...

i am an indian working in an american company. the national anthem is never played. corp. america does not suck up to american nationalism (only to global capitalism).

when bush visits a dupont facility r&d facility to check out woodchips-to-ethanol technology, the focus is just that. plus neither the president nor company has that kind of time to waste. 3000 employees x 3.5 mins. you do the math!that is why it is only played at sporting events (even though the other team is from the neighboring state!:)

i think all of us would do our collective productivity and priorities a big favor by not getting our dicks ...err! i mean egos...all tied up in knots over our beloved national anthem, flag or any other jingoistic symbolisms!

IHOII - It Happens Only in Indiaaaa!